Otter LRC CM4647296 comes home

[Jordan Baker]

About 1.5hrs of work to get this inner left foot well panel removed. Hamilton Bridge used a lot of round headed slot machine screws. 80years later they can be a challenge to remove. Most had the slot completely covered in layers of paint. I found using a box cutter and slim slotted screw driver worked well for cleaning the slot. I then tried out my new Milwaukee M18 impact driver. Wow I am impressed. It has different speed settings then automatically adjusts the torque and speed once it senses the bolt or nut is backing out. I found this really helpful in keeping the slotted bit from slipping out of the screw.

I was also fortunate that the original junction blocks were still present. It should clean up quite nicely similar to the one on the dash.

[Jordan Baker]

With the removal of the foot well parts I decided to sandblast them prior to getting the dents and damage removed from them. It’s just nicer working with clean parts. There was a pile of crud to remove prior to blasting. This was composed of the usual dried oil/grease and road dirt along with a pile of fire extinguisher sand and a few Dutch repaints over the original paint work. It was great to see all the original factory applied Khaki Green #3.

[Jordan Baker]

The sandblasting of these part’s probably took about 6-7 hours in my cabinet over a few nights work. An interesting find was the cast steering tube support bracket was originally painted in KG#3. The other item I found interesting is that the two dome headed countersunk screws featured external star washers under the heads. This was documented in a General Motors Service Information Bulletin.

Lastly I vapour blasted a few of the more delicate parts. The wiring junctions blocks cleaned up quite nicely. All of the metal parts were removed from the fibre backing and plated as previously described.

[Jordan Baker]

Before and after. This panel had been crushed by the engine hitting it when the Otter was rolled. The doubled up edge had been crushed and the whole side curved. Managed to get it all straightened out. No heat. Just an adjustable wrench, shop press and lots of steel blocking and hammer work.

[Jordan Baker]

The post office had a nice delivery for me this morning of my bulk wire order. Now I can start making all new wiring for the Otter. First up was to finish the wiring for the dash. This section was made up of a number of separate wire jumpers to all the lighting toggle switches. I also made up the wire for the fuel gauge to the fuel gage switch and the wires for the trouble lamp socket. Thankfully the original wiring was mostly complete for determining how all the connections were made and lengths of wire.

[Jordan Baker]

I also replaced the original wire on the fuel tank sender wires. These units were NOS items in great shape. I just do not trust 80 plus year old wiring. However I was able to reuse all of the original connections. It’s interesting to see the production differences in the original connectors compared to the new made ones.

[Mike K]

Looking neat . You have an eye for detail that's for sure.

I am always looking for these old electrical connectors at auto swap meets or ham radio fests. Usually they are $1 or $2 for a box full .

Years ago, Bill Drew had a big stack of NOS Chev CMP main wiring harnesses, wrapped up in sealed boxes. I did buy one, the rest of them would have been scrapped along with the other treasures.